'tis the season

Christmas is in the air. Snow keeps falling, lights illuminate the streets of every city, town and village, and the smell of glühwein- a traditional drink that is much more popular than eggnogg ever was- fills the christkindelmarkts that line the streets. Last weekend I went to a christkindelmarkt in Mering with my friend Sophia. I ended spending the weekend with her, becoming friends with her friends and dominating Sing-Star, partly due to the fact that all of the songs were in English. We made a record amount of plätchen (Christmas cookies) at her grandma's farm, where I met some of the cows and their babys. My host father has been away for about a week now, leaving me either alone or with my host mother every day after school. I feel like this time together has helped us get to know eachother a lot better. They always said get on your host mother's good side. I'm not sure if my host mother has a bad side per say, but I don't plan on finding out. Together we went to a Weihnachtsfeiern (Christmas Party) with the group of people I walked with in the Oktoberfest Parade way back in September. She took me to München to meet my friend Lily and we went to the München Christkindelmarkt, which is by far the biggest one I've been to. I ended up going to see Harry Potter 7 in German with my host mother and then, naturally, to the Augsburg Christkindelmarkt. It's safe to say that I'm all Christkindelmarkt-ed out. Yesterday was the third day of Advent, meaning there are now 3 burning candles on the wreath we made two weeks ago. Coming up in my life are some exciting things. Tomorrow, my class is heading to München to see 'A Christmas Carol'. Friday, I leave for Nürnberg for our Rotary Weihnachtswochenende with the other exchange students. I'd be more excited if we didn't have a Deutsch language test. I'm pretty comfortable communicating but tests just ruin any kind of confidence I've built up. It's also the last time we will be all together with our current group. The Australians and New Zealanders and a couple others will be leaving in January. That means that some of the people I've become really good friends with will be gone. Not exactly the most cheerful situation. In two weeks, our Weihnachtsferien starts! No school for two weeks! I am supposed to take snowboarding lessons after Christmas with Sophia. At the start of the New Year, my host parents are taking me to Berchtesgaden in southeast Germany where my host mother's parents have a house. See. Exciting things. Sidenote Story: Last weeks I gave a small presentation in my English class over the American High School. Through pictures and anecdotes, I gave my peers an idea of how my school life is back in the U.S. I got so many comments about how cool school looks in the USA and one boy bluntly stated, "I'm coming home with you." It was really interesting to explain my high school. It made me realize how much I miss the spirit, the classes, and yes, even some of the teachers. I'm excited to go into my Senior year with a whole new outlook. As I said, only two weeks until Christmas break and, like the rest of the student population, I'm counting down the days!--sjinternational